What’s Next for San Francisco’s Transportation Sales Tax Dollars

After six months of meetings and deliberation, the Expenditure Plan Advisory Committee on February 24 recommended a new 30-year investment plan for the existing half-cent sales tax. Known as the 2022 Expenditure Plan, this investment plan will be presented at the March 8 Transportation Authority Board meeting for approval and eventual placement on the November 2022 ballot.  

As with the prior two Expenditure Plans managed by the Transportation Authority, this 2022  Expenditure Plan will determine how the Transportation Authority invests sales tax dollars to improve transportation across the city.

Learn more about the 2022 Expenditure Plan here.

The 2022 Expenditure Plan

The 2022 Expenditure Plan will help deliver safer, smoother streets and more reliable transit; support paratransit services for seniors and persons with disabilities; reduce congestion; and improve air quality. 

The Expenditure Plan includes funding for:

• Neighborhood-level investments such as crosswalks, traffic calming, new and upgraded traffic signals, bicycle lanes, and Safe Routes to School programs.
• Citywide improvements like electrifying Muni’s bus fleet, transit signal priority, maintaining buses and trains so they operate safely and reliably, and increasing capacity on both Muni and BART to reduce crowding
• Implementing improvements identified in community-based plans across the city and particularly in Equity Priority Communities
• Major projects like the Downtown Caltrain Extension, bringing Caltrain to the Salesforce Transit Center

In total, the Expenditure Plan invests approximately $2.6 billion over 30 years in the following areas: 

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See the full 2022 Expenditure Plan (PDF) 

Expenditure Plan Advisory Committee

The EPAC played a significant role in the development of the 2022 Expenditure Plan, and the Transportation Authority thanks each member for their hard work and dedication to the process. Made up of 27 members from neighborhoods, community groups, advocacy organizations, and business and civic groups, the EPAC met over the course of 11 meetings to discuss funding trade-offs and plan policies to arrive at their recommendation. 

To support the EPAC’s work, Transportation Authority and partner agency staff provided the committee with citywide transportation funding needs and project priorities. Staff also completed a variety of community engagement activities to help inform the EPAC’s decision-making. The EPAC’s recommended 2022 Expenditure Plan reflects the diversity of funding needs and priorities for San Francisco's transportation systems. 

See list of EPAC members (PDF)

What did we hear from the community? 

Public outreach and engagement were crucial to developing a new Expenditure Plan with broad community support and equity at the forefront. The Transportation Authority used multiple tools to hear from different communities, with a focus on reaching out to low-income communities, communities of color, and monolingual communities across the city to help advance the Transportation Authority’s equity framework. Overall themes we heard during public outreach: 

• There are varied needs and desires from different communities based in different parts of the city.
• Improving transit had broad support, including improvements to reliability, customer experience, better connections, and additional service. 
• Safety and accessibility were a primary concern for many, including improving pedestrian and bicyclist safety and accessibility for seniors and people with disabilities. 
• Putting equity at the forefront, including focusing investment in Equity Priority Communities and serving people with low incomes, was critical for many. 
• Better connections between neighborhoods, especially in light of changing pandemic travel patterns, and localized engagement around transportation solutions were emphasized. 

For more details, see our full Outreach and Engagement Report (PDF)

Next steps for the 2022 Expenditure Plan

The Transportation Authority Board will consider adoption of the 2022 Expenditure Plan: 

• March 8: First approval, public comment taken 
• March 22: Final vote

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission will consider approval of the 2022 Expenditure Plan:

• April 8: MTC Planning Committee 
• April 27: MTC Commission

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will make a decision to place the measure on the ballot for voters' consideration in November 2022:

• May: Introduction*
• June/July: Approvals*

*Dates may be subject to change.

The sales tax reauthorization measure requires approval by a ⅔ majority of San Francisco voters to pass.